1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a drive support apparatus used for a car navigation system or the like in a movable body such as an automobile. Particularly, the present invention relates to a drive support apparatus for detecting awareness of a driver with respect to safe driving.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, various techniques have been proposed to support driving of movable bodies such as vehicles, and the techniques include detecting a traveling state of the movable body and/or the state of the driver, and giving warning or advice to the driver in accordance with the states.
For example, JP 2002-127780 A discloses a vehicle alarm system that determines whether the vehicle is currently under a particular situation in which the vehicle is liable to cause an accident, on the basis of a situation detected by a situation detecting means for detecting the current situation of the vehicle, and when the vehicle is under the particular situation, the vehicle alarm system determines whether an alarm should be outputted, on the basis of respective driving characteristic values according to the levels of safety check, driving concentration, and operational aptitude of the driver, all of which are stored in a non-volatility memory.
JP 2000-213945 A discloses a navigation system with interactive function. It warns or rebukes the driver when detecting degradation in judgment of the driver, or determines the situation of the automobile on the basis of the detection signals from a sensor loaded in the automobile, and gives advice or instruction for driving on the basis of the determination.
Other known systems include an in-vehicle information system (JP H08-329400 A) that provides topics as a time-killer for the driver or prevents dozing of the driver, and also in-vehicle electronic equipment (JP H06-239186 A) that prevents dozing and concurrently enables language learning.